January, Webber Pond, Bremen

[Ann Nesslage]

January 1-4--still had ducks diving (hooded mergansers)

on the 4th the pond was open in the morning and had closed by nightfall--wonderful patchwork pattern--and was talking and groaning--

1/7  a great horned owl calling very close to the house--almost seemed to be answering the pond--

during the rains on the 10th (Sunday) about 20 mallards arrived--standing on the ice and in the yard-- (a mature bald eagle was circling over head)

on the morning of the 11th two small spots had opened near the shore--one had some diving ducks (too distant to identify)  and the other had a beaver swimming and slapping his tail sending water and pieces of ice up into the sunlight--

Since the 11th the pond has been much quieter and has seemed solid enough for some ice fisherman (drawing some gulls-)-

the cold spell brought a female flicker who spent every day at the feeder and on the suet--the red-bellied woodpecker visits occasionally, and  juncos and other regulars visit daily--

I have seen a distant hawk and have twice found dove feathers scattered on my deck

most mornings a mallard pair or a single female is under the feeder and at dusk and during storms about twenty mallards fly in--leaving after dark with a rush of wings--

since the weather has gotten warner I've been seeing more goldfinches and have heard the cardinals sounding very springlike